Kodachadri

Bangalore might have the most favorable climate and friendly situations for many of us here, but then the outburst of vehicle and human populations has taken away the olden charm that the city once used to showcase. More importantly the city doesn’t have peaks that exceed the sky, wide flowing rivers , clouds that bring constant rain, landscapes spread far , far until one can see, places that are inaccessible by roads, wilderness with sudden surprises, Grasslands, pristine waterfalls, air temperatures maintained at ≤ 15° C, that’s exactly why am always heading out bag packing.


Of course, I gotta be a lot lucky for having settled down in here. A night’s journey from the city would lead you into endless number of places to choose from. So this time, here we were in the beautiful peak of KODACHADRI. It is the 4th tallest peak in Karnataka, falls between Shimoga and Kollur. Kollur is an important Religious destination; The Mookambika Temple here is frequented very often by devotees from kerala . On the tp of Kodachadri peak there is the Sarvagna Peetha of The great Religious preacher Sri Adi Shankaracharya. This is also the same location where the famed “ Galipata” movie was filmed.
Team Size: 19

Organizer: BASC

Means of Transport: the Super splendid “HONDA EXECUTIVE AIR CAR” (As seen in scripted boldly on the bus) 23 seater Run by Swaraj Mazda Engine. This minibus had a sturdy chasis, Woodlined interiors that gave an authentic look, Push back seats with more than 80% seats actually in working condition and a small 17” colour tv that seem to doll out hot movie flicks from the driver’s vast pirated collection. No Sarcasm here, the Bus was pretty good

Expenses: Roughly 1000 Bucks


On the iteanary : Visit Hidlumane falls, Kodachadri , Arishinagundi falls, kollur temple and a fort that came on the way near Rippon pet.

The week ended with a lot of excitement. Was quick to reach home on Friday and started off packing bag. A brief visit to the supermarket to buy a couple of biscuit packs and the famed MTR ready to eat, after which I left home by 8 PM. The Departure was at IST 9:30.
We left the city by 10.30. The route until Tumkur road through Dr Raj kumar was quite messy with private tourist buses queuing up all along the road. Once past the Jalahalli cross, the ride was smooth. I usually have a thing for these night rides, the pleasure of feeling the cool breeze from the edges of the windows with a pinch of music by the ears would be the perfect way to unwind. And if it’s a train ride they could be fascinating as well. The rhythmic sounds of the rails, suspensions and a periodical horn from the engine would also make for a great musical on the backdrop to compliment the ride. These when coupled with a window berth can make for a perfect package to pass the night awake and going.


We stopped by for sometime at 3AM or so for a tea session. The road isn’t particularly great all along. Finally we made it to Nettur early morning by 7 Am. Headed to Sri Devi Hotel for the morning Kriyas after which we settled down for breakfast. The Guy who runs the hotel is a humble guy and has the whole of his family employed at the kitchen. Breakfast were marked by the Idli’s, the poori’s, the Bun’s and lemon rice. These south indian breakfast delicacies were shared ranging from 1/1 to 1/4.


Start point:


3Kms from Nettur, we arrived at the starting point. The unwanted luggages were dumped back into the bus and the essentials made their way into the bag packs. After a quick intro session among the team, we soon headed into the fields. The 2 day date with the nature and the clouds had now officially begun. Crossed a stream, and arrived at a Govt. primary school on the way. The classroom which was adored with various charts, maps and photos of poets brought back memories of my schooling days. Don’t we all share fond memories about our schools! The only place which I remember where simple things are kept simple.




The lone teacher at the school looked like a dedicated guy, his mobile phone kept ringing every now and then. The team distributed chocolates among the kids. These tiny tots were initially surprised and taken aback when they saw us. Later smile forayed back on their faces. We did click some pics with the kids and after which we resumed back on the path. Spotted a water snake resting in a small pool of water by the path, the snake was clearly unfazed by our presence and lay calmly with all of us clicking photos surrounding it. The path finally leads to Hidlumane Waterfalls. We could see some well fed agricultural fields that radiated lavish green color to the whole of the surrounding area.




The Hidlumane waterfalls lies at the top and on the way we come across many smaller waterfalls as the water forms a cascading effect and gradually falls through several step formations. The route to the falls took us through forests, minus the leaches even though the soil had no sunlight and appeared quite damp. The climb through the forest was easy and needed very little effort. Soon we reach the falls; the falls isn’t particularly majestic but offers a good healing massage to people who would want to stand on its base. And for people who’re just ok with admiring it at a distance, its beautiful as well. The Sunlight seeps through the tree tops and falls on the water falling giving it a glitter. It did appear like a series of crystal falling from the top..



We move on, 10 mins climb through the forests soon bring us to the open grasslands towards the peak. It is here where the 2 day association with the clouds begins from. As I inch step by step, the landscapes open up, I could see flat plains on one side and patches of water bodies on the other side. The little felt miseries of trekking inside forests had thus ended. The weather from now was moderated for less than ≤15 C. Cool breeze could be felt, The clouds beginning to loose height , while we gain more potential energy soaring to the peak. It is at these kind of places where I’ve felt some of the most pleasant and carefree moments in life. The walk could rightly be called “ The walk in the Clouds”. The sentence reminds me of a romantic Hollywood movie that I happen to see some time back, it had the same name.



This was followed by a brief stop for lunch. The packed idlis and the Mangalore buns tasted good. Soon we resume and join the Jeep track to the Kodachadri Peak. The next stop was at the base camp were the group positions for a tea break. Being a sweeper ensured that I was always the first from the last. We get our dinner for the night parceled at here and soon take on the last 30 mins accent to the peak. The food was carried to the peak with people taking turns. (Yes we work as a team!). The clouds soon start covering up on us. They could be felt everywhere. The deep vertical drop next to the path was no longer visible; it instead appeared like a milky white carpet all-round. Soon the Peak was here. The divine Sarvagna peetha of Shankaracharya gave a very austere look to the peak.

To be honest, I didn’t have any feeling of accomplishment as the whole trek had been more of a casual one, yet it was nice to have made it finally to this beautiful place that lay above the clouds. The next obvious thing everyone set out into doing was photography and it was soon time for sunset. The sunset on the peak is definitely a moment that shouldn’t be missed. The Sun often goes undercover between the clouds, the hide and seek game goes on for a while and finally bidding good bye to light up the world elsewhere. The clouds take a fine polish of gold when the sun sets; this makes for a beautiful background to take some mindboggling photos of the clouds themselves and at times we humans at the focus too.




The sleeping mats and bags are quick to come out and people are gradually seen settling down. The dinner was finished soon. While the rest of them are either sleeping , playing Cards (Minus the betting money), Counting stars, tracking sounds, exploring paths on torch, etc ,We settle down for a chat . The weather wasn’t very chilly however my wollen shawl was just not enough to cover me. By 10 we’re done talking about all our previous treks, photography, and a hundred random topics that made it in our conversation. We soon surrender to sleep.


I did catch up on some sleep till 4 AM. Later that Morning I was among the Long list of accused people for having snored last night. I always refute the claims; I never feel that I could have ever snored.


Day2:
We did explore the landscape around at our will trying to catch enough of the sunrise.





The unknown river trail at the base, followed by the clouds and the sunrise at the top, this shot is gonna be embedded in my mind for a long time, a rare scene.

We pack bags, leave the peak and are at the base point where we have the breakfast. The Lone filler for the day was a plate of Lemon rice; little did I know at that time that I would end up passing the whole day with this little food. A half day trek down within the forest trail leaves us at the main road; The distance from the peak to this exit point spans 10kms. Nothing notable on the way, although yeah, we came across a bunch of bikers all on their bullet along the second half of the trail. Their bikes sure did make me jealous. Anyways Biking can wait until the next april, this time I was solely on trekking.

We take the bus to Arishinagundi falls entry point. It is from here that all my miseries take shape. 15 odd people who begin walking the 5km trail to the falls are grandly welcomed by an army of leaches who had been impending an attack on this trail. The attack seems to get more and more while the number of people still on track kept reducing. Finally the number reduced to 2 owing to a trade off between doubts on the trail, the leaches, the empty stomach and an incredibly steep trail on one side and an Arishinagundi falls on the other side. The 2 of us myself and karthik, mysore who headed undeterred were joined by Apoorva later. The top priority in life at that moment was to find that board at the left showing a deviation to the Arashinagundi falls. We finally find the board and head on to the falls. With no food and very less water at stake, it was a daunting task to have finally made it to this beautiful abode of nature that lay totally secluded from humans. The Falls is majestic with large volumes of water pouncing down from more than 40 feet height. The Central cachement area was very difficult to approach and we were happy viewing the falls at a distance, yet fully satisfied. The rocks all around the falls gave us ample opportunity to jump one another and make it closer to the falls for being clicked. After all we put in a mammoth effort to make it here, we need the place and our presence well documented. The other 3 member gang was soon to follow. After a brief rest at the falls, we set sail back to the bus. We were more relieved to be getting back.




We had to climb for 15 mins to make it to the diversion point where we initially took the left turn to the falls . Once reaching this point the rest of the journey was more of getting down the whole of the route. I turned back shouting for Karthik, mysore who often stops to clear the leaches. We knew we were already delayed by much time and I wanted us to make it back to the bus asap. Suddenly a snake passes through my feet. It looked brownish with white scales and measured a nominal 5 feet. Suddenly my heart stopped a beat seeing this creature, which I thought even, bit me. Already I had so much of sensation in the leg due to the leach bytes that I couldn’t gauge any sensation due to fresh Snake bites. We passed the poor creature that rested by the side of the trail. The way back was more introspection, evaluation and assertion of the possible snake bite. I kept thinking about the hours one has for medication in the event of the snake bite. Also kept thinking about the number of incomplete accomplishments at this phase of life in the event something really bad happens to me. Suddenly out of nowhere god appeared in my mind. I seem to chant his name in mind asking him to keep me alive. I didn’t talk much until I made it to the bus.


Once reaching the bus we were received by the rest of the team with open hands and claps, I felt great to be back , to be joining the team. After a short session cleaning by bleeding leg (I estimated the total blood donation to be around 200ml for this trek) we got back on the bus and headed back. We reached nettur where the Sri Devi hotel did have dosas left over for the day and was minutes away from shutting doors. Had 4 dosa’s and settled back in the bus.
The journey back to Bangalore did involve a lot of activity. We did start of with Ravichandran, who was busy consoling/romancing his heroines in all of the video songs we played. Antyakshari later took over and went on till 12 in the night. By the way it was more than 6 hrs now since the snake encounter and I was doing fine. Yeah be happy to be alive, the poor thing never bit me.


Day3:
Bus made it to Bangalore early by 6.30 on Monday, caught an auto and got back home. I did have a friendly supporting team as always, and experience exceeds my expectation as always.
That’s Kodachadri for you,

November edition of Karthik’s Nature escapades

Karnataka…. Just one state, Many Worlds

A piece of history:

Kannada is one of the major Dravidian Language of India, spoken predominantly in the southern state of Karnataka. It is the 27^th most spoken language in the world, with native speakers called Kannadigas. It is one of the Official Language of India and the official and administrative language of the state of Karnataka. Kannada Rajyothsava or the Karnataka Formation Day (literally Birth of the Kannada State") is celebrated on 1^st November every year. This was the day in 1956 when all the Kannada speaking regions of south India were merged to form the state of Karnataka.

 

India became a Republic in the year 1950 and in same year linguistic provinces were formed. The state of Mysore is one such state in the south India. The state of Mysore was created taking into fold various parts of the region, which were ruled by kings. Several districts in, now called North Karnataka and Hyderabad Karnataka were dissolved in the new state. The new state was named after Mysore, which by itself was a princely state. People of North and Hyderabad area did not accept the name Mysore; People of this region were demanding a change in the name. After prolonged debate the name of the state was changed to KARNATAKA on November 1 in the year 1973. Late Devaraj Urs the then Chief Minister of state took this landmark decision. Officially the new state was born on November 1 and on this day every year birthday of the state is celebrated. This is popularly called as "KANNADA RAJYOTHSAVA or KARNATAKA RAJYOTHSAVA" means "State Festival"

 

The Karnataka state in whole is one of the fastest growing states in India. The Capital city Bangalore has stood true testimony to the technological boom of IT industry and Other IT Enabled Services. Even to this date Karnataka has the highest revenues generated out the Export duty derived from the IT. The city has also been responsible for crafting the success stories of many Young engineers who have gained from enormous talent pool attracted by the IT. Some of the biggest IT majors are based out of Bangalore and the city also houses a few biggest R&D Centers of the MNC's outside US. In the agricultural domain Karnataka tops in the production of Coffee and other spices. Rice, Ragi and Sugarcane have been some of the other most widely grown crops in Karnataka. The mining fields rich in manganese and Iron across the northern belts of Bellary account for huge revenues from ore exports. There has also been much effort to promote investments both in IT and Non-IT across the smaller Tier1 and tier2 cities to improve economic prospects and ensure uniform economic developments across all regions. The recently concluded Global investors meet promises to bring several thousand crores of investments in all sectors primarily the power, steel, food technology apart from the IT investments.

 

The Malnad regions in the Western Ghats, the vast coastline along the Arabian Sea, the historical architectural marvels in Hampi, Belur, Halebidu Chitradurga, etc make the state an important tourist destination. From the highest waterfall in india, the Jog to the tallest Monolithic statue, The Gomateshwara of the Shravanabelagola can be found in here. The Western Ghats which are the bio-diversity hotspots of the world are home to rich natural resources, flora and fauna. The longest stretch of Western Ghats close to 800kms falls under the state. The tourism department of Karnataka has been aggressively promoting tourism in the states through many programs. The tag line for tourism being "One state many worlds" is an awe inspiring one to hear. The recent Golden Chariot Premium Rail tour takes one across the length and the breadth of the state in the lap of luxury. The Mysore Dussera that is world renowned for the Jumbo savari is attended by people from across the globe. The event that dates back to 400 years is a tradition followed from the times of the Maharajas and has flown down from generations together. Karnataka is also home to a healthy population of Wildlife. Some of the most important Wildlife parks of Karnataka are the Bandipur national Park, Nagarahole, Dandeli and other smaller reserves. Estimates say that there are close 300 Tigers in Karnataka spread across different national parks, also there are close to 5000 elephants. The Malnad regions around Agumbe are particularly known as the Majestic King Cobra habitat.

 

Culturally Karnataka has a lot of diversity within the state. Although Kannada is the official language of the state, there are several minor languages like Tulu, Konkani, kodava, etc. The other regional languages of the country like Tamil, Marathi, Telugu, etc are also widely spoken as a confluence of movement of people across the borders. The kannada language has been recently granted the Classical language status taking into account its rich heritage, the fact that the language dates back to 1000's of years. The Contribution of Various literary personalities to the development of the language has also been a key reason to the recognition of the language and its popularity. Kannada has received the highest number of Gnanapita award that is 7 in all. This is highest for any language in India. The credit to which may be attributed to some of the prominent poets and authors of Karnataka. The state is also home to some of the famous piligrimage centres that are thronged by millions of devotees every year. Some of the prominent religious places would be Kukke subramanya, Dharmasthala, The more Serene Sringeri in chikamagalur, Gokarna, Kollur, Chamundi hills, Melukote, and many more destinations.

The kannada Rajyothsava award instituted by the Govt. of Karnataka recognizes prominent personalities from all fields and awards them. The award stands for a lot of glory and pride and is received by individuals with a lot of respect for the same. The political scenario in Karnataka is something worth mentioning. In the last decade the state has not been lucky enough to see stable governments rule the state for the full term. There has been instability with all the governments and the president rule being imposed quite often. This has definitely taken some toll on the image of Karnataka and as far as the development activities are concerned. This has also resulted in creating a dent on investments.

The state is criss-crossed by some major national highways. The roads bring in development; however the state still lags when compared to other states in India that have a wide network of roads. The Rail road network has also particularly taken a back seat when compared to other states that have greater densities of Rail network. Not all districts in the state are linked through rail network. Also Electrifications of some of the busiest rail routes are yet to be taken up. The only international airports in Karnataka are in Bangalore and Mangalore. The airport in Bangalore has been recently shifted to a new location at a bigger terminal that can handle increased passenger traffic. The Table top Airport at Mangalore also has international operations, Touted as one of the most difficult airports, there has been an accident here involving death of 160 people aboard air india express flight very recently.

The history of the state suggests that it was ruled by the Hoysala Emperors predominantly in the past. The emblem of the state that is symbolized by the 2 lions is called as " Gandaberunda" .The same could be found at the entrance of Vidhana Soudha. This emblem is derived from the hoysala dynasty. Vidhana soudha is where the seat of power resides in Karnataka. This is one of the most beautiful Administrative houses in india and was envisaged and built by Late Sri Kengal Hanumantiah. The other important institutions in the state that are of national significance are Research institutes like IISc, IIMB, ISRO-ISTRAAC, DRDO, LRDE, NAL, IIAP, also many big Public Sector units like BHEL,BEL, BEML, HAL, NGEF in the past, ITI, etc.

The movie industry of Karnataka is fondly referred to as Sandalwood. The movie industry dolls out a 100 odd films every year. Some of the actors of the yesteryears who are a house hold name would be Dr. Raj Kumar, Dr. Vishnu Vardhan, Ambarish, Srinath, Shankarnag, Ananthnag, Ravichandran etc to name a few. Although the movie industry isn't as big as it is elsewhere in the country. The kannada movie industry does still manage to have its share of Local audience who cherish and encourage the kannada movies. The theatre that had for long been sidelined with the advent of Cinema and TV's is on the revival path with many Theatre houses like Rangashankara, etc promoting theatre among the masses which for a long time had been restricted to the certain niche class of people with interest.

That's Karnataka for now, Happy Rajyothsava for everybody.

 

 

 

 

 

Ganapa- One god many colors

Ganapathi in short Ganapa is by large the most popular Hindu god. Alright, that's something we all know.Now In a country like India with so much of diversity in religion, castes, etc its hard to really arrive at a consensus about the more acceptable form of god that can be acknowledged by all kind of people. If there's one god whom anybody and everybody can identify with devotion , then its got to be the Ganapa. I believe he adds a lot of flavors to our lives everyday.

Its been a month since this year's Ganesha chathurthi and i have been eager to pen down some thoughts that crossed my mind on the festive. Gowri Ganesha Festival has been one of the more important festival to my family. There's a lot of joy, lot more to the way the festival is observed in my house. The Gowri habba has a bigger attendance with all the women power from the family getting one to traditionally do the pooja, while the Ganesha habba is restricted to only the men from our house. The other men from the family are doing it in theirs.

While i dont think i can throw much light on the gowri festival as am not that connected with the pooja, it is the Ganesha festival that interests me. It all starts with the Clay idol that has to be bought into the house. A lot of bargaining happens before fixing a price to the idol. The shopkeeper demands more while we're on the opinion that the god isn't worth all that money and thus we bargain. On a lighter note , the bargaining thing is more a gene product and comes embedded in oneself . Its hard to Suppress such an inherent instinct, so even the god's have to make way only through bargain channel.

The streets of Bangalore adorn in a complete festive flavor filled with hawkers selling various pooja items. Be it the Ganesha Idols , the Banana plantations ( BAALE KANDHU ), fruits , flowers of all colors. Its a delight to be walking past such a place that is overflowing in festive mood.

There's more to the cultural linkages with the city and the Ganesha Festival. The street pandals houses Ganesha of huge sizes backed by an impressive list of various cultural programs that identify with our tastes and tradition. While its true that in other cities the same festival is celebrated in aggrandized manner with even more fanfare, the tradition that bangalore follows has suited the people in here for a long time.

The pooja vidhana for the ganapa is an elaborate one, but they all make so much sense. the naividhya ( offering to the god ) has the tasty Kadbus in them along with many other items. 21 kadbus waiting to be eaten later once they're shown to the god, ha ha. This is followed by an immersion of the idol the same evening or the following day. the turn up at the immersion place is a scene particularly worth mentioning. People line up with different sizes, shapes and colors of Ganapa adorned with flowers and waiting to be immersed in the water once in for all. The devotion is at an all time high, backed by some final pooja before the god is let go into waters. Finally the Ganesha festival is here to an end, only to come back the next year same time same season